Forgetful
by BlackMarionette
Summary: When Sora's bestfriend died, it hit him hard. And when he sees him during an 'emergency shopping trip' with Kairi he thinks he's lost his grip on reality. Turns out Riku's alive but...why doesn't he know who Sora is? AU CHAPTER 4 IS UP!
1. Breathing

'kay, so this is my first fanfic, wish me luck! I found it laying around in my computer along with some others that may or may not be published. I'm not sure about the rating...eh~ I'll just leave it like that.

EDIT:

so, I kind of rewrote this chapter because there was an annoying polt hole that I noticed the other day and I think I fixed the choppy-ness too :)

* * *

Forgetful

So, this is AU just to warn you darling readers, and I'd like to apologize beforehand for any OOC-ness that may appear...sorry!!

Summary: Sora lost his best friend to a harsh storm when he was ten and he blames himself. Six years have past and he's finally gotten used to a life without him, but when he catches a glimpse of his dead best friend on an 'emergency shopping trip' with Kairi he starts thinking he's going crazy. After finally getting his life back in order he thinks its falling apart again. Not only that but after finally confronting him, Riku doesn't seem to know who he is.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, if I did...I dont think I could handle it D:

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Chapter 1: Breathing

The wind was cold, and it blew with a strength never before felt on a night prior to this one. Waves slammed into the shore of the usually peaceful islands as the rain started to fall finally being released by the dark clouds that filled the sky. The streets were empty, the islands inhabitants all safe and warm in their houses waiting for the storm to pass. All except the two young boys who were still playing at their favorite spot, a smaller island not too far off of the shore of one of the bigger islands.

It was quite noisy as two small boats slammed against the dock along with the pounding waves. All about the small island it was as dark as the stormy skies, there was some light coming from a cave almost as if there was someone camping out there. Then, the light went out and two young boys crawled out of its entrance and into the storm, the first with silver hair just like the moon. When he stood up he turned around to help his smaller friend with an outstretched hand. The small boy with spiky brown hair took his friend's hand and—

Thunk!

He took his friend's hand and—

ThunkThunk!

"Sora! I know you're in there! Get your butt out of bed right now lazy bum!"

The young teen woke with a moan as he heard his friend call out to him while throwing rocks at his window.

Thunk!

He covered his head with the blankets hoping that the noise would just go away.

Thunk!

One drowsy eye peeked out from under the covers to check the time.

Thunk!

He sighed. It was 12:30pm and he was supposed to meet Kairi at 11am, no wonder she was attempting to break into his house with rocks. He sat up on his bed with a yawn and started to rub the sleep out of his eyes when he realized that the 'thunking' had stopped. He sent a curious glance to the window still noting the silence and hoping that she had given up. So he stood up and walked over to the window cautiously to see if she was still there and to his relief she was gone. After seeing this he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and walked across his room. Then something happened that he certainly wasn't expecting to happen.

BAM!

That was definitely the sound of his door slamming open.

AH!

That was definitely the sound of him shouting in surprise.

THUNK!

That was for sure his skateboard ramming into the wall.

WHAM!

And _that_ ladies and gentlemen was, without a doubt, the sound of his face and the floor making contact for the final act. (A/N: applause please)

"Ow…" he groaned getting up and rubbing his face hoping to erase the pain.

"Oh, you totally deserved that," said the culprit of his misery standing in his doorway hand to her mouth giggling slightly. He looked up at her with a playful glare and she laughed some more and entered his room to sit on his bed.

"Morning Sora," she greeted with and innocent smile crossing her legs. "And how have you been?"

"Morning Kairi," he replied getting up holding his forehead, he looked at Kairi then back at himself.

"Umm…I guess I should get changed…?" he added with a slight blush in his cheeks rubbing the back of his head. He went to get some clothes out of his closet and walked into his bathroom to change. Once in the bathroom he looked in the mirror and noticed he had a huge red mark on his face that was starting to fade, he stared at it and inwardly cursed his skateboard. _Why did I even buy that thing?_ He thought to himself as he dressed.

In all truth he had a very good reason why he bought it and a story to go with it too, but he'd rather not dwell on that past right now.

Sora walked out of his bathroom not bothering to comb his hair; he gave up on that years ago when he realized that his hair was, what he guessed, permanently spiked.

"So, aside from my near death experience earlier," he stated standing at his door, "I think I'm ready to go!" he said with a lopsided grin to Kairi waiting for her to follow him and they walked downstairs.

At the mall Kairi ran to her favorite store, Paopu Boutique, Sora followed along without complain. Paopu Boutique had the latest fashion trends on the islands and was one of the most well known stores in the world. Some people spend all their money just to come to the islands and look at the store rather than buying anything. But of course, her father being the mayor, Kairi could always find a way to afford the overly expensive clothes.

She and Sora always did this the weekend before school as a sort of farewell to the summer days of fun and do-nothingness. And they spent their last hours of summer buying loads of things forgetting about the fact that tomorrow they would be in school.

* * *

'Hate' is such a strong word, let's just say Sora had a very…deep, or maybe great dislike, for school (what teenager—scratch that, what _sane_ person doesn't anyway?). It wasn't that he disliked getting up early or anything, contrary to what happened yesterday with Kairi, he was in fact a morning person. You know; the type of guy you feel like slapping to try and get that grin off their face because it just isn't natural to be smiling at such an ungodly hour. Ask him why and he'll tell you it's as simple as taking a breath. Yes, just like breathing.

Kairi of course was always downstairs by the time he was ready and they would have breakfast together, his parents having already left for work. After breakfast they would start walking to school sometimes running into Tidus. But they'd walk alone just the two of them most of the time because, and let's face it, since when is Tidus _ever_ on time for school? Real shocker he keeps his place on the Blitzball team.

Hold on. We're getting off track.

Right, so Sora's dislike of school. It was the desks. Okay, so he can't blame the desks they were inanimate objects. Nah, it was more like the teachers. They were, after all, the ones that made you sit in the desks for _very_ long periods of time. But it was more of the whole 'sit-down-in-one-spot-while-you-listen-to-the-teacher-drone-on-for-eternity-about-something-you're-going-to-forget-the-second-you-step-out-of-his-or-her-class' thing that they expect you to follow that he hate--…disliked.

He'd rather be by the beach with Kairi than sitting and listening to people who actually think that what their teaching will ever be used ever again in the real world.

They approached Destiny High and Sora readjusted his tie. They were both happy and sad that the new school year had started, (yay for friends, neigh for homework). Going to each other's lockers and loitering around to talk and review schedules they soon parted ways as the bell rang. Only to be reunited again after homeroom and sent of once more to their next class.

_Time to restart the brain _he thought to himself with a smile as he looked down at his schedule. He headed to Mr. Leonhart's history class with Kairi in tow.

* * *

A silver haired boy looked over his schedule as he entered the school building. He was late, and on his first day too. He mentally sighed, he didn't really want to be here, he was fine being home schooled by a tutor. But his parents insisted he branch out and make friends. He smiled. The only thing that seemed to move him forward was the fact that for some odd reason, he felt comforted by his surroundings, sort of like he belonged here.

He found it weird, he came from the city where there were buildings, lots of people, and crowded streets. And yet, he felt like this was home. It was the complete total opposite of the mainland; serene, calm, small houses and of course, less people. If this was where they were going to be living from no on; he could get used it.

He walked towards the principal's office. He had been given a tour of the school during the summer so when he started he wouldn't get lost. Entering the room once the assistant gave him the okay he sat in one of the chairs and the principal, Dr. Merlin was it? Went on about how they were glad he made the choice to study here and that he had arranged for a student guide for him.

After his quick briefing he was lead back out into the hallway where he was introduced to a girl a year younger than him with blond hair a little below the shoulders and tossed to the side. She smiled politely and introduced herself as Naminé.

"Riku" he replied as he took her outstretched hand and shook it.

This was his second tour around the school. He walked beside Naminé as she showed him the different buildings and they small talked about themselves. He found out she was on the student council, she was president in fact. He gave her a little information too, like what he liked to do or what his favorite TV show was.

The tour ended in front of his homeroom, though there was only a little bit of time left in the class. They said their farewells and he walked into the classroom.

It was quite noisy when he entered; Riku himself preferred the silence of his house, but he was glad no one paid much attention to him. He reached into his pocket for the slip Dr. Merlin had given him and handed it to the teacher who introduced himself as Mr. Fair (but you can call him Zack).

"Alright, settle down!" he shouted to get the attention of the class.

"Now, we have a new student," he motioned his arm towards said student. "I mean sure, this is only your first class of the year but he wasn't here when I called role so…" the teachers blue eyes giving him an expectant look.

"Uh…Riku, Riku Kurai," he stated toward his teacher and the class.

"So," Mr. Fai--, Zack, he mentally corrected himself, continued, "we shall welcome this young man with open arms" to exaggerate his point, he hugged himself. "And girls, don't rape him." At this the class laughed and Riku made his way to an empty seat where he was bombarded with questions about where he was from and his favorite ice cream or if that was _really _his natural hair color and such.

And he couldn't help but notice the young brunette with flipped out hair in a yellow summer dress watching him with a high level of concentration, he also took note that she all but dashed out of her seat and out of the door when the bell rang. Did he freak her out or something? He wasn't sure but he left for his next class.

Hopefully he could get used to going to high school.

* * *

So, what do you think? love it? hate-- well, strongly dislike it? I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

--BlackMarionette


	2. Ghosts, Nightmares, and Sugar Rushes

I was planning on waiting until Wednesday to post this but I had it done yesterday (when I should've been doing my school project) and was like: fine, I'll post early it for [Nekotsubasa] who happens to be my first and only reviewer. Thanks by the way! You guys are making me feel lonely D: so many people read this too!!

Sorry if there's not enough Riku for you yet, but worry not! I'm planning a Riku-centric chapter in the near future!

Anyway, I'd like to announce that I rewrote chapter one (mainly the second half of it). Just so you guys know…and on with the story!

Disclaimer: nope, not mine, nuh-uh. Well, the story is at least.

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Chapter 2: Ghosts, Nightmares, and Sugar Rushes

His first day of school went by fast and before he knew it, Riku was headed home to start dinner. He normally didn't start it before his mother came home so he could help her and his father normally showed up a little bit after that. But seeing as they had finally finished unpacking, they could now sit down at the dinner table and have a real meal together in their new house. Riku felt like surprising them by making dinner for them so they could eat when they got home.

As soon as he put his bag up in his room he went downstairs to the kitchen. He picked up the cookbook they placed by the cabinets and flipped through it. _Salmon? No…Beef stew? No…Chicken? _He stopped at the page an idea coming to mind. _Hmm…how about a chicken cordon bleu?_ He flipped to the right page and found the recipe._ With a fresh garden salad…yea, that sounds good,_ he thought as he checked for the ingredients in their kitchen.

"Looks like I need," he looked back at the book, "bread crumbs and cheese."

He went upstairs to grab his wallet and he left for the store. If he remembered correctly it was walking distance from his house and should be around…ah! There.

* * *

Sora's house was quiet and perfect for doing homework…

_Ugh_…homework. Sora looked at his cell phone hoping that maybe, just maybe, it was just his imagination that he sat here for a whole hour staring at the math homework that Mr. Highwind gave him without doing any of it.

Well, he was sure he didn't spend an hour doing nothing. According to his dark blue electronic companion he spent exactly _two_ hours doing nothing. Looking back at his paper again, the only thing he saw on it was '_Sora_ _Hikari'_ in his messy handwriting.

In all his despair he gave his cell phone a pleading look hoping one of his friends would call and save him from—

_Vrrr. Vrrr. Vrrr_.

"Someone's calling," he said with eyes wide in shock as his phone vibrated. '_Kairi'_ he read and smiled, if he had known he could make someone call him with just a thought he would've done it hours ago. Two hours in fact. "Hello?" he answered.

"_SORA!! Hey, I need you to come with me to the mall STAT!_"

"Sure thing," he laughed, "Anything for the person who just saved me from brain damage. Where do you want to meet?" he asked, grabbing his jacket as he headed to the door.

"_No time for chit-chat!! Open the door!_" and she hung up. Low and behold, when he opened the door Kairi was standing there barely putting her phone away.

"Not that I'm questioning you or anything Kairi," Sora started as he locked the door to his house, "But, I have a question. Didn't we go to the mall yesterday? Ha-ha, what else could you possibly buy that you haven't alrea--"

"Shoes!!"

Not quite understanding the female human mind he said, "Kai, I've seen your closet, you don't need shoes…" he scratched the back of his head in confusion as the two headed to her car.

Oh dear Sora if only you knew not to mess with a female in need of shoes…

She grabbed his ear ignoring his 'ow' in protest and pulled him down to her height to talk directly into his ear. "Darling Sora," she started _ever_ so sweetly, "I don't think you understand. I'm sure you remember that I bought a cute—no, _adorable_ little hooded pink zipper dress…"

"Uh…yeah?" Sora gulped in fear.

"Well, turns out I don't have any shoes to match it," she remarked darkly, "and Selphie and I are going on a double date tomorrow and I have to look my best!"

"D-double date? With who?" he asked though still afraid but curiosity overcoming it.

"Well, Irvine asked Selphie out and she said I needed to join in on the fun so she hooked me up with Seifer for the evening," she sighed letting go of her friend's (now red) ear.

_Flashback__:_

"Kairi! Kairi! KairiKairiKairi!" she heard someone shout from down the hall from her locker, when she turned to the voice the brunette had already made it down the hall.

"What's up, Selphie?" Kairi asked.

"Oh my god you are _not_ gonna believe what I just saw! Really hot guy. My home room. _Oh~_, if only Irvine had waited a little later to ask me out!" she said in one breath, then after a moments pause; "do you think he'll mind sharing?"

"Hold on, what? Could you repeat that?" Kairi asked confused

"There this hot guy in my homeroom, he came in late and Zack was all: 'oh children, look at this beautiful eye-candy I'm introducing to you' and I just couldn't stop staring at him and _darn it,_ I missed his name! And it was really weird 'cause I swear he looked a lot like that guy you and Sor-bear used to hang out with!"

"Um, Riku?" Kairi replied a little confused at her friend's enthusiasm on the subject of her late friend.

"But you know me," Selphie continued with the wave of a hand as if her friend hadn't spoken, "after a while I start lumping faces together and then _all_ hot guys look the same, but who cares? Their hot! When I find out his name, _man_ I'm gonna--"

"What about Irvine?" Kairi asked trying to remind her friend of her now-boyfriend.

"Irvine?" she asked as if the name was foreign to her. "Oh! Irvine! Speaking of him, I need you to go on a double date with me!"

"A double date?" Kairi asked a bit surprised at the request

"Yup!" was the answer she got.

"But I don't have a date!"

"Of course you do! Remember when we went to Twilight High for that away game? And we met those guys?"

"Seifer and his friends, you mean?" Kairi asked remembering that day.

"Uh-huh!" Selphie chirped, "I heard he took _quite_ a liking to you~" she elbowed Kairi and wiggled her eyebrow to emphasize her point as they started walking down the hall. "So now all you have to do is ask him to come!"

Kairi blushed a bit at the statement then said, "b-but, I don't like Seifer that way! What if he gets the wrong idea?"

"Oh, just tell him it's a friendly get together," another hand wave, "it doesn't _have_ to be a date-date, more of a just-friends-date!!"

"I don't know…"

"Great! I'll call him and tell him!"

"But--"

"And you better look cute! Don't want my friend leaving a bad impression! 'Kay bye~" and with that she sped off to her next class before Kairi could protest.

Kairi stood there stunned and feeling like she had been set up. (A/N: I'm pretty sure that's the case Kairi.) _It can't turn out to be that bad_, _worry about it later_, she guessed heading to Sora's locker and then together they left to their history class. What should she wear?

Selphie would kill her if she didn't follow orders. She smiled.

_End of Flashback__. (And this is how we got to Sora's current predicament…)_

Sora was about to ask her about something else when she shouted something surprise. "Wait, why aren't we at the mall?!"

Before Sora could give a coherent answer he was shoved into the passenger seat and they were speeding away to the mall. Kairi talking about all the shoe stores they were going to scope out and Sora praying for the Lord to help him. First school, now this? This was going to be a long day…heck, it already was.

* * *

After Riku bought the missing ingredients for the recipe he walked back to his house. Checking the time he noted that he still had an hour before he needed to start cooking. Glad that school had let out early to give him the time to do this he put the food away and decided to check out the mall they had on the island. _Surprising they'd have one here,_ he thought to himself as he left once again.

When he arrived he was amazed at the amount of in-trend stores they had. But, he was even more surprised that they had his favorite store.

"Wow," he was shocked as he walked through the doors that said '_Way to Dawn_' above them, "they have a better selection then the store on the mainland."

He was welcomed by an employee and he started looking around, and that's when he saw it. The yellow vest he'd been looking for but could never find at any of the stores he went to. He picked it up and checked the price. _Just enough,_ he smirked to himself; it was his size too.

Man, he looked all over for this thing. There was just something about it that _screamed_ to him; like it was made for him. He was lost in his thoughts until something or, someone actually _did_ scream well, more like shouted. It came from the store across form him and just as he was about to look he saw the time and realized he needed to get home to cook.

He paid for the vest and headed towards the exit, thoughts brought back to hoping his parents would like the dinner.

* * *

You know, it could've been that maybe that it was _way_ too early to be at the mall Sora thought as he sat in one of the many shoe stores they had visited. Wait, no. The place is crowded and…it's 3 in the afternoon so that can't be it.

Ah! Of course! He's being haunted, that _must_ be it. No…because then the dog that belongs to the lady sitting next to him would be barking madly, and plus he doesn't believe in ghost anyway.

So…Ice cream! Sugar rush! Yeah, he just had to go for the other scoop didn't he?

He stopped the ranting in his head for a second to think.

Nightmare. This has got to be a nightmare. He used to have nightmares like this loads of times back during the '_Roxas_ _Incident'_. Okay, now that the problem is solved he just has to wake up…nothing…what to do?! He freaked as Kairi gave him 'a weird look trying to figure out why she was just asked by the brunette to pinch him.

Man, now he felt like taking his skateboard for a ride to ease his mind. He sighed to himself; _hopefully I won't need to see that psychiatrist again._

He groaned. He could just picture it; he'd walk into her office and say, "Hey, Dr. Gainsborough! Roxas is back!" and just like that, he'd be taken away to some insane asylum where people like him could be locked up so society could pretend he doesn't exist and they could forget about him entirely as he slowly fades away into the darkness known as—

"SORA!!"

"Wha?" he responded (quite intelligently might I add), to the person who shouted his name. He looked at her then the store they were in and then the store across from their current location. _Gone?_

"Honestly Sora," Kairi said with a pout holding yet another pair of shoes in her hand, "did you lose your brain over vacation or something? You just totally spaced on me!"

"No, I just—wait, who said I have a brain?" he replied with his usually bright smile quickly recovering. At that statement Kairi laughed and repeated the question she had asked him during his 'moon mission' as she labeled it.

The day went on without any further interruptions by ghosts, nightmares, or sugar rushes. He didn't tell Kairi what he saw because, after all, there was no way the guy he saw buying that yellow vest in the other store was Riku…right?

* * *

Cordon bleu is sooooo~ good :D and plus that's like the one thing I know how to make without assistance from the parentals which is why I chose the dish. (it's one of my favorites!)

If you're wondering why Riku is cooking and all happy-dandy it's because, and just to clarify, he has Dissociative Amnesia (sp?). It's when a person is blocking out certain information normally having to do with a stressful or traumatic event. A person can block out just that event or sometimes it leaves gaps in the memory of long periods of time (in Riku's case; all his memories of the years before and also including the 'traumatic event' that caused it are blocked to him now). They're not gone, just hidden from him I guess you could say…the traumatic event will be explained later on and' I'll give a cookie if you can guess what the 'Roxas Incident' is! Good luck with that…

And to explain the cooking; well, there are different ways to treat this condition. One of them being the one he's showing in this chapter which is 'creative therapy'. I mean sure, normally it's like art or music therapy; but, cooking _is_ technically know as culinary _arts_, so HA! And besides, it's my story, if I want Riku to cook his memories back (that's not what's going to happen) IT WILL HAPPEN!! He basically got into expressing himself through it and pretty soon it just became something he does on a regular basis.

And by the way; yes, I _did_ make Riku's keyblade a clothing store. Kairi's favorite clothing brand? It's called '_Princess of Hart_' ;D

Sorry for the long note, reviews?

--BlackMarionette


	3. A Midsummer Day's Dream or Mickey Mouse

SORRY SORRY SORRY!! GOMEN GOMEN!! JE SUIS DESOLEE!! (I hope I spelled those right…)

Really I am! I had finals week and a whole bunch of projects and like make-up work and stuff. So I couldn't really get to a computer to type this stuff out I did some of it at my school library while my teacher wasn't looking :D and now it's finally done!!

And thank you to all of those who have read/are reading, and have favored, alerted, or reviewed!

Disclaimer: there are those people who get these crazy ideas and are called geniuses. Then there are others, like me, who get these ideas and then are thrown into an insane asylum :)

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Chapter 3: A Midsummer Day's Dream or Mickey Mouse

It was way into the night. He sat there, aquamarine eyes staring intently at his hand. This used to happen often; sleep plagued by nightmares. That psychiatrist was right in saying that this move would calm his turbulent subconscious somewhat. After all, he had less of those nightmares that he could never remember a thing about when he woke up. This brought him back to looking at his hand.

Though he could never recall what the dreams were about he knew they had something to do with water…water, and…another person. That second bit of information was new to him, he'd normally never remember anything else besides the fact that there was water. But he distinctly remembered someone holding his hand tightly and then the grip disappearing, which was when he woke up.

Riku looked out his window noting how brightly the stars shined on the islands then glanced down back to his hand. He could still feel the warmth of that hand as it gripped his, he could still feel its fear of ever letting go as they were both engulfed in the surrounding water…that's new too. Usually he just assumed that because it was a nightmare about _water_, well, he must have been drowning. But now he knew for sure that he…that _they_ were drowning.

_Enough speculating, it never got you anywhere,_ he told himself as he lay back down to stare at the ceiling. _You're first sleepless night in your new house, just wonderful…_

Sigh. _At least it's the weekend_, he thought as he looked to the cage on his desk that contained his pet mouse who was currently climbing the cage. After falling down a couple of times it seemed to notice its master looking at him and stared back.

"Looks like I'm back to being nocturnal again, huh, Mickey?" Riku asked his pet as he put his finger between the bars of the cage.

Mickey sniffed it in reply and went back to climbing his cage.

* * *

It had been a week since Sora last saw…saw…_it_, and he was glad it hadn't shown up again. He was glad he hadn't seen it again, oh _sooo_ glad. That meant that he wouldn't have to tell Kairi, or his mom, or Dr. Gainsborough…so yea, insert smiley face here and all that jazz.

But enough with the moping, he and Kairi had a beach day to enjoy! Surprising, right? Though it took him a while after the…um…_thing_, that occurred…

Anyway! Sora was back to enjoying the weekend sun, swimming in the ocean, making sand castles and playing blitzball. Being on Tidus' team was _always_ an advantage. But the fact that Kairi was on _Wakka's_ team sacred him a bit.

It was just a regular outing, they did this on all their free and sunny weekends (A/N: I spelled "weekends" wrong like, ten times while typing this…). Sora had a day of nothing planned and his parents were planning on going to the mainland to meet co-workers for business related junk. It was during his 'midsummer _day_ dream' (as summer as it can be during the school year) that he received a call to go to the beach with his friends. Naturally he would have immediately said yes, after all, that was his favorite place to be. _But…what if _it_ was there?_ He asked himself as his friends waited for a reply. And after much contemplation, and small reciting of 'eeny-meeny-miny-moe', he said yes.

_So what if it's there?_ He told himself. And luckily when he arrived at the beach, it wasn't.

But back to the present. Tidus and Sora were currently having their butts handed to them by Kairi and Wakka. Of course the fact that Tidus was on their schools blitzball team should've helped, but the issue that Kairi was of the 'female species' caused him to go easy on her. This meaning that Mr. Blitzball-Team-Captain was free to use his awesome skills to beat the non-female duo down.

Being that Wakka didn't have to worry about them being female, which Sora has been positive that he wasn't since birth, it was an easy win. So the game ended 6-0, not your best effort there Sora.

"Wa's da madda guys? Can't handle da heat, ya?" Wakka mocked as he and Kairi hi-fived.

"Unfair!" Tidus shouted from his spot on the floor.

Sora, who was currently on is back in the sand groaned at their loss.

"Come on guys, no need to fret," Kairi smiled. "It's just a game."

"Says you!" came Tidus' reply.

"Don' mind him, ya? He's just mad he got beaten by a girl!" Insert smirk here.

"ALRIGHT!! Get over here you Hawaiian freak!"

And just like that Kairi and Sora were left to sit at the beach and watch the two best friends chase each other down the shore. It should be fairly noted that Tidus was quick tempered and Wakka just _loved_ ruffling his feathers.

Perfect end to a care-free day.

* * *

Three weeks ago he might have thought it hard to adapt to this sort of environment since he was used to the city.

Two weeks since they moved and Riku was getting used to the area better than he thought he would.

One week ago and he would've thought the concept of school meaningless when you can have home school tutors.

It had been a week at high school for Riku and he actually made a friend, well, _friends_. He was quite proud of himself. Albeit, one was a bit on the hyperactive, fast talking side…but it worked for him because he preferred to be the listener.

Selphie. That bubbly yellow-sun-dress-wearing-brunette-hair-flipped-out girl that he thought he scared off on the first day. An odd friendship it would seem, but they got along quite well.

There was also Naminé. She was sweet and quiet but not a pushover and assertive when she needed to be. She was artistic too, which was something Riku admired about the young girl. Which reminded him, she was going to arrive any minute.

During one of their talks at lunch they had gotten into the subject of cooking and Riku had offered to teach her a bit when she said it was one of the things she would've loved to learn to do.

So he asked his parents if she could come over and of course they were overjoyed. And the date was set. Well, not '_date_' but you know, 'time' and 'day' and the like. Since it was the weekend and they were both free they chose today to meet.

When the door bell rang he answered to door to let her in and they went to cooking.

* * *

Sigh. _Weekend over…_ Kairi thought to herself as she entered the school grounds with Sora, he seem as joyful about it as she did.

"Hey Sora!" someone called, they both looked in the direction the name came from and saw Tidus running up to them.

"What's up, Tidus?" Sora asked.

"Man! Good thing I caught you!" Tidus said in relief, "Wakka's not here today and I wanted to run some moves by him before school but…so what do you say, man? You're my only hope!"

"Sure thing," Sora laughed, "I guess I'll see you later Kairi."

"Alright, I think Selphie wants to meet me anyway," she said checking her newest text message. As the other two walked off she went up the stairs to the entrance and bumped into none other that Selphie.

"Good! I found you!" she greeted, "now come on! I wanna catch him before he heads to class!"

"Catch who?"

"Duh! Hot-homeroom-guy!" she announced as she dragged Kairi through the crowd of students.

"Um? Irvine?" Kairi asked when they finally stopped in front of a few lockers, Selphie seemed to be oblivious to the fact that she was taken.

"Riku!!" Selphie shouted as she looked down the hallway past Kairi completely ignoring her question.

"Huh?" Kairi asked in confusion.

"He's in my homeroom? Remember? And forget about how hot he was back then because, you've got to see him now, he's one sexy bastard!" she chirped to her friend while smirking to herself.

"Selphie…what are you talking about? Riku's gone," she said with a frown, then added sadly, "so stop joking around, because this isn't funny…"

"Gone? Please," she dismissed her friends anger with a wave her hand, "then who is that hunk of yummy-ness walking to his next class, hmm?" she asked looking down the hall again.

Kairi looked wiping her tears away _(tears?)_, despite the fact that she knew her friend was probably mixing Riku up with someone else. But what she saw made her drop her books. _Riku?_ She asked herself if she was seeing things but Selphie obviously saw him too.

It took her a while to get over the shock of seeing her once-thought-dead friend but when the gears in her head started moving again she realized that he was walking straight toward them mainly because Selphie kept calling him over.

"Ri-"

"Riku!!" Selphie shouted as she jumped to hug him.

"Hey Selphie," he chuckled as he was released from her hug and Kairi just couldn't stop staring at him. He had changed; he was taller, his hair was longer, he had a bit more muscle and though she felt weird thinking it…he _was_ hot. But to save her sanity, let's say 'handsome'.

The only thing that seemed to be the same were those vibrant aquamarine eyes that were staring intently at her. Wait. Staring at her? Now that she noticed, Selphie seemed to be staring at her too. Did she zone out? For how long?

"U-um…" she started nervously.

"Well it looks like you're finally back," Riku smirked a bit (_same old smirk too_), "hey, I'm Riku, I don't think we've been introduced."

And Kairi simply stared and stared and stared at his outstretched hand as her mind still processed to words. _'hey, I'm Riku, I don't think we've been introduced'_. It sort of just echoed around in her head. Then her mind came to a complete halt as the words were finally understood. Next, came a world of darkness.

* * *

Yup, Kairi fainted. Did you see my Hawaiian accent fail? :D I bet you did. (dude, I think I have readers in Hawaii…they're probably laughing their butts off at me, that or they want to shove me down a volcano for being so stereotypical…jk) Is this too short for you? I'm sorry… I was only off my usual length by 300 words D:

Haha, Mickey's a mouse XD

Sorry again for the wait, Reviews?

--BlackMarionette


	4. Don't Panic Kairi

Haha, here it is! Chapter 4! The real one, not some lame excuse about my inactiveness! Now I have to get to rewriting chapter 5, hopefully I'll have that one out faster than this one, eh~ we'll see.

Disclaimer: Birth by Sleep would've been out in America already if I owned this genius.

* * *

Before she opened her eyes she was aware of the fact that she was on a bed and…it smelled like school (if school had a smell). It wasn't the comfy sort of bed she had at her house, it was more stiff and…maybe she's in the nurse's office? She opened her eyes.

"Nurse!" she heard someone shout.

Yup, the nurse's office. _What am I doing here?_ She asked herself. She remembered Tidus and Sora walking off the play some blitzball. She remembered talking to Selphie, Selphie calling someone's name…then nothing. She turned her head to the side and narrowed her eyes in frustration, _why can't I remember?_

"Oh, Miss Lynn!" the nurse came in with a smile on her face followed by Sora. "Glad to see you're awake."

"Uhm…"

"You fainted, Miss Lynn. And your little friend and that handsome young man brought you in."

Kairi grew silent as she processed the information. _So, Selphie brought me here, Selphie and…RIKU!_ She suddenly remembered and started looking around frantically and then her eyes settled on Sora, the owner of the previous voice, and they widened.

"Excuse me?" she asked the nurse not taking her eyes off her best friend who was starting to look confused, "are they still here?"

"No, they had to leave a little bit after they dropped you off. Plus, I doubt any teenager would want to hang around school after hours."

"Ah…thanks…" she sighed in relief looking down at the infirmary bed.

"Right. Well this one," she gestured to Sora, "has been waiting for a while for you to wake up so I'll leave you two alone. I was going to call your father but this young man insisted it would be O.K. so I didn't."

As the nurse walked away to do whatever it is nurses do, Sora sat on the bed next to his long time friend. "So…you fainted," he said humorously.

Kairi gave him a deadpanned stare. He laughed harder. She sighed, smiling as she put her shoes on. And she was glad he didn't ask about it much on their walk home.

* * *

After Kairi's fainting incident. _Pfft!_ That still made him to laugh!

Anyway, after her…_ha_…thing that happened, they walked home and though he greatly wanted to know would cause such a thing, he got a phone call. One that would change his weekend forever as such calls usually do.

"Yeah, yeah"

"You worry too much"

"Well, no I-"

Sigh. "No, I haven't burned the house down…"

"Honestly Cloud. You need to have more faith in me! Besides, mom and dad are here."

"Yes, I _do_ remember the time I almost _did_ burn the house down," he replied lazily.

"Okay, okay…" he laughed, "see you soon."

Once Sora's call ended he stepped out of his room to shout downstairs. "MOM! DAD! CLOUD'S COMING OVER THIS WEEKEND!"

"Alright sweetie!" came his mom's reply.

To say Sora was excited was an understatement, he was ecstatic! His brother Cloud was coming over! It had been forever and a month since Cloud had last come to visit. Once he had moved out to Midgar for college and found a job there they saw less and less of him. He worked with his friend Tifa part-time at her bar when he wasn't doing deliveries for his other job at Avalanche Delivery Service. Tifa sometimes came over with Cloud when he visited (they were childhood friends, so she became a friend of the family's). She wasn't coming over this time though.

Sora picked up his cell phone once again and sent a text message at the speed that only a teenager could.

Somewhere in another house on Destiny Islands, that happened to be right next to his, a certain redhead's cell lit up and when she opened it, she laughed a bit. It read:

_CLOUD! XD_

* * *

When she and Sora made it home (being next door neighbors was very convenient), Kairi sat in her room pondering what the heck she was going to do…Riku was going to their school! It was only a matter of time until he and Sora ran into each other and then what? Riku would look into Sora's deep blue eyes and remember every thing? He'd start hanging out with them joking about how funny it was that he didn't know who he really was for ten years? Or maybe he'd thought it'd be fun to disappear for _years_ just to be welcomed with open arms once he suddenly returned out of the blue?

Wait, she's always with Sora! And she's never ever _ever_ seen Riku…EVER. So, maybe he was still safe? After all, it seemed as if their schedules allowed them to never come across each other and not to mention that they'd never seen a speck of him at lunch…

These thoughts made their way around her head until she fell asleep. Luckily for her, the next day there was no sign of Riku or Selphie and Sora remained oblivious. And when Friday came along afterwards, she was even luckier because that's when they appeared! But she had no Sora with her…thank goodness!

But of course these things take time to get used to…

_A lot_ of time.

_Everything's gonna to be fine_, she kept telling herself trying to believe the words of Bob Marley as they entered her head through the earplugs of her MP3 player.

~_don't worry about a thing_~

She probably seemed rude listening to music instead of talking.

~_every little thing is gonna be alright_~

It wasn't her fault the object of her fretting was sitting across from her at the lunch table. Okay, it _was _her fault, she could've said "no" when he asked her to sit with them. But, who could say no to him! She was just lucky Sora wasn't at school today, something about having to meet with his brother _exactly_ right at the moment he came home because…something else about his few minutes and/or seconds without his 'beloved brother Sora' would 'cause him unbelievable pain and loneliness to no end'.

It went a little like this:

_Cue grape._

"_Hey…hey, Kairi."_

_Cue second grape._

"_Hey Kairi, guess what?"_

_Cue third grape._

"_Guess what!"_

"_What is it, my dear grape throwing friend?" Kairi asked looking up from the sketch she needed to finish for art._

"_I'm not coming to school tomorrow," Sora replied._

"_Cloud?"_

"_Cloud!" insert goofy grin here._

"_You do realize he's not leaving, right? If you went to school he'd be there when you got home." She said going back to work on her sketch…_this is a horrible bunny…_she thought looking at it sadly and she grabbed her eraser to start again. She didn't believe in wasting paper so she just kept erasing until she got it just right._

_Sora's response was to pinch the bridge of his nose in a very Mr. Leonhart fashion and say: "Kairi this has nothing to do with me…THIS IS ALL FOR THE SAKE OF CLOUD!" by this point he was half way across the lunch table, Kairi's face between his hands, and earning quite a couple of stares._

"_Cloud's sake?" she asked._

"_Of course!" he sat back in his seat, "could you imagine the look on Cloud's face if I'm not there to personally greet him?"_

"_Well—"_

"_I'm not a sadistic person, Kairi," he added with a straight face._

"_I see…" came her reply._

"_So you see, every moment _I'm _not there…me, his beloved brother Sora. Every aching second that he is not in my presence, would cause him unbelievable pain and loneliness to no end."_

_Kairi simply stared._

"_So, if not to abolish, then ease his pain…I must be there!" Fist pump._

…

Yea, typical Sora. She pressed pause.

"Um…" she started which seemed to get the attention of silver haired boy across the table. "So, Riku…you said you used to live on the mainland right?" she asked recalling a conversation she overheard him and Selphie having, "why'd you move over here?"

"Hey, yeah! You never did tell me Riku!" Selphie added.

"Well, you never did ask, Selphie," he chuckled…_darn that chuckle._ "Well, my parents needed to move closer to work and they figured a change of scenery would be good for us."

"Your parents…?" Kairi asked. She distinctly remembered the fact that Riku's father died in a car accident when he was four and that he lived with his mom up until the time he disappeared and was proclaimed dead. His mom moved away soon after, not being able to handle the grief. No one knows where she is now.

"Yea, mom works as nurse at the hospital near the beach—"

"Oooo!~"

"And dad works with shipping down at the docks—"

"Ahhh!~"

"So it's easier for them here than having to wake up early to catch the first ferry from the mainland to here."

"Your parents…" Kairi repeated; she seemed to have stopped listening after the first mention of his…'parents'. Riku stared at her a little confused and Selphie started patting her head saying:

"Yes, Kairi. _Parents_, you know, those amazing beings who gave birth to our friend right here? Yea, them." She said it real slow too, like she was talking to an idiot.

"Um, well…not exactly," Riku interrupted. Both girls turned to him. "I was adopted, I don't know my real parents."

Bingo. That got Kairi animated.

"Haven't you ever wondered about them though? Like, what type of people they were? Or who they knew, or where they lived? What they did for a living, how they—"

"KAIRI!" Selphie shouted stopping her small rant, "Geez~, first you won't talk and now all you _do_ is talk!" she paused here then looked at Riku, "but, you know, if you ever feel like going on a spiritually fulfilling journey to find your parents, I'M WILLING TO TAG ALONG AND HELP!"

"Uh…sorry!" Kairi apologized.

"Don't worry about it," Riku replied smiling, "to tell you the truth, yea, I think about it all the time. But I have a feeling I might not find what I'm looking for…"

_No kidding, _Kairi thought.

"But ever since I moved here, I feel like…I don't know, like I don't need to worry about anymore because I'm…home." He got a distant look as soon as he said that, "…home?"

"Riku~" Selphie sang successfully keeping him from spacing out.

"Huh?"

"Let's go to the beach!"

"The beach?" Kairi and Riku asked in unison.

"The beach." Selphie confirmed.

"Uh…" Kairi wasn't sure what to say, she looked to Riku who looked a little reluctant to answer and before she could give an answer Riku replied; "Sorry…but, I have something else…to do…"

This statement had Selphie in a riot.

"Riku! You can't just say 'no' to meee~! Think of it as a date!"

"…a d-date?" He seemed both slightly scared and confused at the same time. Kairi couldn't help but sympathize with him, when you're friends with Selphie…let's just say you need to be able to handle it, and technically he's had practice at least once or twice and he's holding up pretty well for someone with memory loss. And since she was feeling a bit generous, despite her slight discomfort, she tried saving him.

"Oh! That reminds me!" she started, "you can't go either Selphie."

"Whoa! WHAT?"

"Remember? Double-date. You. Me. Irvine and…" she paused a bit, "Seifer…" And as if the previous topic was never spoken she turned full gossip girl mode.

"Did you get a cute outfit?" She squealed.

"The cutest," she said, playing along, "and we need all of today to prepare for tomorrow, in case you forgot…?"

"OOOOO! MAN! School needs to end, like, now! I've _got_ to see it!"

So she and Selphie spent most of the rest of lunch talking about preparing for the date and Riku just sat there thinking. As he watched them talk he looked at Kairi and for some odd reason unbeknownst to him he felt as if something was missing.

* * *

This was a bit longer than usual, I'm glad. And I think I've figured out why I'm having trouble with this, I'm not completely sure how to write from Riku's perspective DX CURSES! Sorry for the long wait, reviews?

-BlackMarionette


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